1030°

BioWare responds to Mass Effect 3 ending furore

Mass Effect 3 developer BioWare has responded for the first time to fans furious at the game's ending. Director and executive producer Casey Hudson explained that a "polarising" finale was necessary to get fans talking.

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digitaltrends.com.
shodan744425d ago

Hang on a minute. Is Hudson actually admitting that BioWare effectively trolled their fanbase in order to provoke a debate?

Wow.

iamnsuperman4425d ago (Edited 4425d ago )

If you read between the lines it seems they never actually finished and pushed the content back (hopefully not to charge for it but who knows).

edit: either that or they really messed up on creating an ending to keep people talking. An ending that gets people talking isn't meant to make people angry and start a petition but to discuss what it means

Godmars2904425d ago

In other words, responding to your edit, they've again failed as story tellers.

Big surprise.

gaffyh4425d ago

I think BioWare needs to listen simply to understand why people are angry. As far as I can tell, people are angry that none of the choices you make seem to have any effect on the endings. Example (spoiler alert just in case):

Most people will have played through and tried to go full paragon (because they don't want to be jerks). If you go full paragon, you save the Geth and you also become friends with EDI. However, the "Good" ending, which is what you are going for during the whole game, forces you to destroy all synthetic races, including the Geth and EDI.

Then on the other hand, if you choose the "Bad" ending, you die, but you are going along with Cerberus thought, which is what you are going against throughout the entire game. Then the synthesis ending is actually the best, but it is pretty much the same as the "Bad" ending.

I think that's why people are angry, because the ending choices are a bit stupid, and the "Bad" ending is more good than the official "Good" ending.

Legionaire20054425d ago

@ gaffyh

(Spoiler Alert)

Not just that reason, but the whole destroy all Mass Relay thing, the war assets that are nonexistent, The Normandy crashed on a unknown planet thing, and the choices that don't even matter. The Witcher 2 next month will rip this a new one. Now how do I know that? I got Witcher 2 on PC, and you won't be disappointed like this.

Patriots_Pride4425d ago

Are you really that gullable? If you do not see DLC/Milking out of the ending then you must be one of those person that loves to give Bobby Kotic free money.

I am a die hard ME fan and bought played the first one to death and the same for ME2 so I thnk I deserve a proper ending to the trilogy that Bioware promised me and not some BS ending that leaves more questions than answers.

ziggurcat4425d ago

@ Patriots_Pride:

can you provide a quote where bioware promised you the ending you were expecting?

Bobby Kotex4425d ago

Yes! We need to start a petition for bioware to have us pay for dlc to fix the ending!

blitz06234425d ago

What's also getting more annoying with Bioware is the storyline of the games they are making lately. I'm sure I'm not the only one who noticed this:

Dragon Age - gather allies against Darkspawn
Mass Effect 2 - gather allies against Collectors
Mass Effect 3 - gather allies against Reapers

Their games are getting old really quick. The ending of Mass Effect 3 also made things worse for them. I hope they don't become like Square.

da_2pacalypse4425d ago

To me, it felt like the ending of the story was outsourced... there was not even a dialogue wheel... I've never played a bioware game where one chooses their ending by walking towards a path....

This is similar to how the Deus Ex bosses were outsourced and came out horrible....

anyways, I doubt they were actually outsourced, Bioware just cheaped out at the end and didn't want to do too much work in order to accommodate for all of the players previous choices... GOOD JOB CASEY HUDSON, YOU FAILED!

Nimblest-Assassin4425d ago

@godmars

Well if we look at it in the "destination doesn't matter, but the journey does"

It was a hell of a journey, but the destination sucked and just made this incredible journey meaningless.

They did not fail as story tellers, they failed as ending crafters.

Which a lot of games nowadays are struggling to do.

Im getting annoyed with the irritating concept of the hero dying, and then their is a hint at the end in which they survived.

SPOILERS FOR A LOT OF GAMES FOLLOWED

GOW3: Kratos body disapears

Infamous 2: Lightning Bolt shaped question mark

ACB: Lucy gets stabbed, and turns out being a
templar

ME3: Sheppard breaths

Force Unleashed 2: THE WHOLE F**KING GAME!

EITHER KILL OF A CHARACTER AND GIVE THEM THE SEND OFF THEY DESERVE, OR LET THEM LIVE!

NOT THIS ANNOYING BS THEY COULD HAVE LIVED/DIE CRAP

ITS A COMPLETE KICK IN THE NUTS

zeeshan4425d ago

I haven't played the game yet but to all those gamers who have, do you think that the game truely deserved the 10/10 ratings that it got? I am asking you this because I don't trust "journalists" anymore so I'd rather listen to the people who really matter (the gamers) instead of bunch of idiots (journalists, bloggers etc).

justpassinggas4425d ago (Edited 4425d ago )

@zeeshan

No, the game does not deserve a 10/10. It deserves a 9/10 for all of it except the last 15 minutes. The last 15 minutes bring it down to a 6/10 AT BEST. Why? Because the entire purpose of ME games and Bioware games in general is choice. When the ending rips that away from you and forces you down a linear path where your actions are of no consequence and you get the same cookie cutter ending regardless, then you feel cheated for investing 5 years of your time into your Shepard and your squad mates.

Oh, and there's zero closure. You don't find out what happens to your squad mates (not even your love interest), nor what happens to the other alien civilizations, and the backbone of the mass effect universe is destroyed so you can't even FIX such a thing in a possible post-game without retconning the ending or without introducing another idiotic Deus ex machina. Oh did I not mention that? The ending is the biggest example of Deus ex machina that you'll literally cry out WHY?!?!?!

Rageanitus4425d ago

i smell DLC coming to redo an ending 5 bucks here and there is alot of money

NewMonday4424d ago

MGS4 showed how to tie up complex loos threads

GribbleGrunger4424d ago

wow, this controversial ending as created a pretty negative mass effect

Hayabusa 1174424d ago (Edited 4424d ago )

@Godmars290

I agree. I'm begining to question why Bioware are so applauded as story tellers. I read the hype, how they want the player to have an emtional connection through their own choices e.t.c but when I hear about the actual finished product, it seems miles behind. I actually haven't played that many Bioware games, because they tend to fail to grab me in the first couple of hours of gameplay (including ME) but it seems, predictably, that they tend to screw up alot (same thing I heard about Dragon Age Origins).

And why can't video game writers provide closure? The biggest problem with most video game trilogy endings is that they never feel like they conclude all the narrative threads proprly. Same problem Halo had.

EDIT: @newmonday Yes, MGS4 is a good example, even if the ending was a little cheesy, at least it finished the story.

Morgue4424d ago (Edited 4424d ago )

Good luck on getting a " logical " discussion on N4G.

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ninjahunter4425d ago

Authors do it, movies to it. In fact its good conversation topic. I have not played ME3 yet (waiting to see how this DLC thing rolls over), but im well aware of the concept. Just because it wasnt powerful enough of an ending to knock up your mom, kill your neighbors dog and make your balls drop all at once doesnt mean its a bad ending.
People need to click on their brains every once in a while and do that thinking thing.

JaredH4425d ago (Edited 4425d ago )

I would really love to hear a person that says the ending is "sophisticated" or "intelligent" explain the numerous plot holes.

Pintheshadows4425d ago

It's evident that you don't know what you're talking about. Perhaps if you had some context, ie, go complete Mass Effect 3.

theDECAY4425d ago

@ ninjahunter

OWNED, like a b*tch!

NeoTribe4424d ago

You should prolly play it before saying stuff like that.

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kingdavid4425d ago

This Hudson guy is obviously a donnie darko fan.

I dont mind a good ambigious ending but it really just doesnt suit the series..

SilentNegotiator4425d ago

(Hint: It suits DLC or another trilogy, though)

dedicatedtogamers4425d ago

Having seen all three endings and the plot (or lack thereof) leading up to it, Bioware just got lazy, plain and simple. Every single aspect of the last hour of the game was so poorly done, it's as if they hired 3rd-party contractors outside of Bioware to write the ending or something.

Bioware, you are full of crap. Go home.

kneon4425d ago

I just finished the game and I wasn't even sure what decision I was making at the end as there was only one obvious thing to do, I didn't see how to make the other choices.

But now having finished it the whole story is basically Terry Pratchett's "Hogfather" meets Ray Kurzweil's "The Singularity is Near".

Tr10wn4425d ago

Is not trolling because the ending wasnt as bad as the fans put it, they just dont understand it, is the same thing that happen in Inception most people dont like the ending because they cant understand it, read some mass effect books, novels and comics then the codex and review everything in ME3 and maybe you'll understand, but if the fact that the game doesnt have a happy ending is what fans dont like well, grow up then lol.

aliengmr4425d ago

We understand that the ending doesn't make any sense. In fact it only gets more ridiculous the more you study the ME universe.

house4425d ago (Edited 4425d ago )

as house says "you dont get what you deserve you get what you get and theirs nothing any of us can do about it"

Tr10wn4425d ago (Edited 4425d ago )

@aliengmr "We" you are speaking for the whole group now? anyways since you are the group leader and you clearly understand the ending and the whole mass effect universe explain me the ending in details on how it happen, keep in mind that you must read at least a book to understand few little details and that's leaving out the comics and the novel.

Even after all that, the ending is open for debate, like i said its and ending similar to Inception, same thing is happening here, i'm not saying i fully understand the ending but since i read the books/novels/comics i understand it better than the people whining.

I found a video explaining something similar to what i understand happens. http://youtu.be/PZ7bsIpEKIg

theDECAY4425d ago

@ Tr10wn

Inception's ending isn't hard to understand at all. Either you believe he made it home, or he didn't. That's a poor analogy and you fail.

Tr10wn4424d ago (Edited 4424d ago )

Same thing goes to this ending and if you don't see it well maybe you are a retard literally, obviously they are completely difference endings but in the end you don't know what really happen and there is the link to Inception.... that's something a 5 years old could understand, anyways in the end Shepard made it the citadel or he didn't oh wait looks similar to Incept.... never mind you still dont get it right?

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Rowland4425d ago

Bioware stands for laziness. From dumbing down the RPG to duplicating levels in DA2 to this and a whole lot more inbetween.

Baka-akaB4425d ago

Really ? if the ending actually sucks , i doubt i'd be talking about it , it would just wanna deck the whole franchise on shelves and not bother with it and most things bioware again for a while .

I know , i can't comment further on the issue , as i havent finished the game yet , but i smell BS here .
They just did a crap ending , and didnt expect such uproar and people noticing

Simon_Brezhnev4425d ago

well take your very sweet time before you finish the game. Thats all ima say.

Captain Qwark 94425d ago

i havent seen the ending yet so dont spoil it but......even if you got the ending changed, would it even matter? you already know how it was intended to end so thats always going to be in the back of your mind, even if they do change it.

Grap4425d ago

No. it will change my mind the take back earth was bad really bad BW need to recreate this mission.. keep in mind i don't hate the ending nor i like it if fans want to change the ending go ahead and change it..

sly-Famous4425d ago

""polarising" finale was necessary to get fans talking."
Well you didnt just get them talking, you got them reeling.

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130°

BioWare Could be Working on More than Just Dragon Age Dreadwolf and Mass Effect 4

Earlier this year, BioWare was hit with layoffs as part of a downsizing of parent company Electronic Arts, but fans have been reassured that the next Mass Effect game hasn’t been impacted. Likewise, Dragon Age: Dreadwolf’s development is still churning along, with BioWare putting it at the forefront of its focus and rumors suggesting that it could launch sometime later this year. Fans might be getting another look at the long-in-development Dragon Age: Dreadwolf at the Summer Game Fest in June.

If the recently posted job offering for a temporary development manager is any indication, BioWare could have yet another surprise up its sleeve for when Mass Effect 4 and Dragon Age: Dreadwolf are nearing completion. This mystery BioWare video game could truly be anything, from another spin-off of its two major properties to something entirely new. All there is to go on at the moment is a vague mention in the job posting, and it might still be some time before BioWare is ready to confirm any new games in its pipeline.

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gamerant.com
just_looken24d ago

So a studio that spent years on anthem then this dragon age thing is now also working on another ip along with mass effect,

You think they would be worried that there brand has been on 3 major screw ups

Dragon age 3 launched broken with the frostbite engine yes its a good game but you can see in the late game how rough it was

anthem......

Mass effect 4 well that dev team was fired so yeah.....

They should make sure this new dragon age is a goat instead of putting more work on the table

bababooiy23d ago

Bioware today is like 150 poeple i dont see how they are seemingly working on all these projects at the same time.

Michiel198923d ago

Inquisition wasn't broken, it just had some flaws and on the contrary it also had some strengths. If you call inquisition a major screw up then idk what to say.

That said with what happened to the study since then and now, I'm not really confident that their next game will be any good.

just_looken23d ago

If you played it fully to get plat like me back in its novemeber launch window you had that castle with empty area's endgame missions not there or working and a mp that was made around loot box grind like the mass effect mp.

Its hard to explain to those that played it years later after they tossed out the dlc/patch's

Michiel198923d ago

entitled much? I played it at launch too. Why you even platted it if it was a "major screw up"?
It was good enough for you to sink 100 hours in but also a complete fuckup at the same time, make up your mind.
So either you like shitty games or you're just talking out of your ass.

RaidenBlack23d ago

Well just wanna say, Archetype Entertainment is the new BioWare, composed of mainly ex-BioWare vets.
And they're developing Exodus (starring Matthew McConaughey), a new sci-fi RPG (spiritual successor to Mass Effect, dare I say?)

CantThinkOfAUsername23d ago

I hope it's a single player game with Anthem's gameplay mechanics.

Becuzisaid23d ago

They're owned by EA. What makes you think that they wouldn't publish for PS5? Shoot, if your fridge could connect to your bank account EA would try to release it for that if they could!

Double_O_Revan24d ago

How about they focus on those games and not over extend themselves? We don't need another Anthem.

Becuzisaid23d ago

Bioware died after Inquisition (some would even argue after ME3). They are no longer the same company.

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80°

Mass Effect 3's Ending for Javik Misses the Forest for the Trees

Based on one narratively fitting ending in Mass Effect 3, Prothean squadmate Javik is highly unlikely to return in the next Mass Effect game.

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gamerant.com
anast51d ago

He was one of my least favorite characters. I wish they would have done the Proths different.

70°

Mass Effect Writer Reveals Why He Left BioWare

During a part of his interview with Minnmax, Mac Walters gave details of why he chose to leave BioWare.

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gameshorizon.com